Image compression seeks to reduce the size of image data for more efficient transfer and/or storage of the image. The size of image data may be reduced, for example, by attempting to reduce irrelevant and/or redundant portions of the image data. Conventional image compression techniques provide acceptable levels of compression for a variety of different image types. In some cases, however, conventional image compression techniques perform in a sub-optimal manner.
For example, conventional image compression techniques tend to perform poorly on images that include a textured area. Examples of textured areas may include, but are not limited to, mottled carpet, grass, stone, building facades, paved surfaces, and the like. In some cases, when compressing an image with a textured area, conventional image compression techniques may degrade or eliminate the texturing of the area. In other cases, to avoid degradation of the textured area, conventional image compression techniques encode the image at a higher bit rate resulting in a lesser amount of compression and larger file size than may be desired.